Shout Out to Dan

Antaeus Dance is entering it's 10th season! We began with an evening-length dancework, Inherent Vices, back in November of 2001; and we're premiering our fifth, Prospect & Refuge, at Cleveland Public Theatre May 19 -22, 2011.

There have been many, many wonderful people who have been involved with and helped Antaeus Dance over the years. One of those individuals is Dan Kilbane. I met Dan at CPT some years back and we continue to meet there over and again. He has guided us through many a performance with a combination of talent, charm, humor and professionalism. Dan is good people.

Dan, it was a pleasure to see you yestereday and I look forward to many happy returns.

Joan

The WHY Collective

On Sunday, May 9th Antaeus Dance appeared with The Why Collective, one of Cleveland's foremost anarco-dadaist neoclassical free jazz revolutionary electronic crypto mystical open form collaborative arts ensembles. Antaeus Dance has participated in two Why Collective events. The most recent was Blind Alchemy. I have included a video of our performance. Blind Alchemy III. "Blind Alchemy" is composed/performed by Greg D'Alessio (Why Collective guru), Alexander Bonus, Paul Cox, Jenna Lyle and Antaeus Dancers Amy Compton, Joan Meggitt and Sherri Mills. The dancing begins around the five-minute mark. Greg had this to say about the work: "This is a piece built around some improvising Greg, Paul and Alex did, that we will meta -improvise on tot he improvised singing and dancing of Jenna and Antaeus..."

Enjoy!

Joan

Video courtesy of Sherri Mills and posted with permission from Greg D'Alessio.

Summer Classes

Antaeus Dance will offer summer classes in modern dance technique on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:00pm to 7:30pm in the Company's studio in Pilgrim Congregational Church. Classes begin Thursday, June 3rd and will run through Thursday, August 5th. These are company classes which are open to the public (intermediate/advanced level movers).

The Antaeus Dance studio is, hands down, the most beautiful and inspiring dance space in Cleveland. A gorgeous rose window graces the upstage wall, and the downstage wall offers a view of the sanctuary through a set of four arches. To see some other spaces around Pilgrim Congregational Church, an historic landmark in Tremont, look below! Cleave is a film by Cynthia Penter featuring Doug Lodge and me, with original music by Bill Sallak. Verge is the live dance that accompanied the film at Antaeus Dance's recent premiere at CPT in April.

Prospect & Refuge: cleave/verge from Bill Sallak on Vimeo.

But I digress...

I will be teaching the summer classes. My training has been devoted to the modern dance technique of Erick Hawkins, which I have studied under numerous Hawkins company members, most notably Kelly Holt, James Reedy, Cynthia Reynolds and Gloria McLean. The modern dance technique of Erick Hawkins integrates strength and vulnerability, cultivates grounded elegance, and embraces dynamic subtlety. Classes will utilize Hawkins' principles, including his innovative relationship to time, through athletic phrases that develop out of concise floor and center work. I like to call this work: Living out loud by dancing from within!


Also on the horizon is the annual Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive in Meadville, PA. I have directed this intensive since 1999. Sherri Mills has been an instructor for several years now, most recently offering classes in yoga and massage. We are delighted to be joined this year by Antaeus Dancer Heather Koniz and former Company member Carla Monzo.

Antaeus Dance will be making appearances with the Why Collective this Sunday, May 9th at 8:00pm in Drinko Recital Hall on the campus of Cleveland State University, and with trideaDANCE on Saturday, May 22nd in Tiffin, OH. After that, we begin work on Antaeus Dance's 10th Season!

I hope to see you in the studio this summer!

Joan

Photo of Antaeus Dance Studio at Pilgrim Congregational Church by Joan Meggitt.

Cleave used with permission from Doug Lodge, Joan Meggitt, Cynthia Penter and Bill Sallak.

Photo of Sherri Mills and Heather Koniz in Meggitt's Prospect & Refuge: Stray by Matt Bliss.

Two Weeks Past

Antaeus Dance premiered select excerpts from its ongoing evening-length collaboration Prospect & Refuge at Cleveland Public Theatre at the close of DanceWorks 2010. The performances were well received by the public and the work was reviewed by Plain Dealer critic Donald Rosenberg. The dancers are on a well-deserved break before preparing for our next performance. The Company will make a guest appearance at the trideaDANCE concert in Tiffin, Ohio at the historic Ritz Theatre Saturday, May 23rd at 7:30pm.

Once that is complete, the Company will continue work on the Prospect & Refuge project, heading out to Pennsylvania for more filming. Cynthia Penter's first film, Cleave, will soon be available for online viewing. It was a great pleasure to work with dancers Amy Notley and Desmond Davis again! The last time I worked with them together was on a project called Burn the Heavens. Also, new to the group was guest artist Sara Lawrence-Sucato. It was wonderful to work with her as well. All three will be continuing to work on the project, as well as Amy Compton, Marissa Gloriosso, Heather Koniz and Sherri Mills. The company is preparing to say farewell to founding member Shanna Sheline.

More on P & R as it happens. More on Shanna as I am able to speak of her without being overcome with emotion. Coming up: Summer Offerings.

Joan

Photo of Shanna Sheline supporting Marissa Gloriosso by Joan Meggitt

Two Weeks Out

Antaeus Dance's performance of select premiere excerpts from Prospect & Refuge opens in two weeks. We are part of a double-bill with Travesty Dance Group/Cleveland, a local company directed by friend and colleague Kimberly Karpanty. TDG will premiere Kim's full-length work Dawning. The companies are a good match in several ways. Kim and I definitely overlap in aesthetics, yet we have distinct voices and very different ways of speaking. The intersection of individual and community is important to both of us and serves as a fairly consistent theme in our work.

Kim is a marvelous choreographer, creating extended, complex movement phrases, seemingly in the blink of a eye. I have always been more of a slow-cooker myself, taking time to develop movement ideas and, of late, working closely with the dancers in finding and exploring movement. These different personalities and approaches of the two companies yield a rich diversity in the works.

Prospect & Refuge is an ongoing evening-length project that will premiere in full in the spring of 2011. It began, rather unexpectedly, with Verb Ballets in early 2009. I had been developing ideas and movement for a new evening-length, already bearing the given title, when I was invited to be a part of the Cleveland All Stars concert (more recently called Fresh Inventions). I decided to use the opportunity to explore one idea, Stray, in advance of working with Antaeus Dance. The eight dancers of Verb Ballets were lovely and I enjoyed the time I spent with them.

After that, I continued to develop Stray into a longer piece for the twelve members of the Kent Dance Ensemble at Kent State University. At the same time, I began work with long-time dance partner and fellow dance maker Doug Lodge in rural Pennsylvania, brainstorming and visiting potential film sites, including an abandoned factory and a condemned farm house. In October of 2009, while the company was in Meadville for it's annual fall concert at Allegheny College, we filmed the dancers over the course of two days in site-specific improvisations on a theme. I returned to PA in January of this year to work with Doug on a duet that was later filmed in the bell tower at Pilgrim Congregational Church by media artist Cynthia Penter.

Having finished my work with the Kent Dance Ensemble, I then began to rework Stray for the eight dancers in the Antaeus Dance Prospect & Refuge project and have been running both versions (similar though not identical) in their respective venues. The KSU students contributed greatly to the work, willingly exploring ideas and successfully meeting challenges that I put before them. They have my hearty thanks for bringing the work forth so clearly!

While all of this was going on, I was endeavoring to move other parts of the dance forward. This turned out to be a challenge given that my entree into the work had been so highly structured and I was attempting to engage the Antaeus Dancers in a more collaborative process while also working with a second dance artist and a composer and a film maker. All of this brings us to Cleveland Public Theatre's DanceWorks 2010. The Company will premiere four sections of Prospect & Refuge. The overarching idea for me has been the creation of a thematic modular dance, one that can change with time and venue, one that does not always appear in the same order in which it was last presented, one which plays with perspective through both film and live dance, and one which allows everyone involved to contribute to the process.

I look forward to seeing you at the premiere!

Joan

Photo 1 of Heather Koniz supporting Amy Compton by Joan Meggitt.

Photo 2 of Travesty Dance Group/Cleveland in Dawning by Bob Christy.

Photo 3 of the Bell Tower in Pilgrim Church by Joan Meggitt.

Photo 4 of Kent Dance Ensemble members in Stray by Bob Christy.

Home Front Retrospective

Last month Antaeus Dance presented Home Front at Pilgrim Congregational Church. While the concert was produced later than initially planned, it was well worth the wait. Marissa Glorioso's performance of her solo Apologia was a moving combination of strength and vulnerability. Jenita's new quartet Romani was delightfully dynamic and her premiere of Heart's Terrain, created with dancer Sherri Mills, was quite evocative. As much as I prefer to stay behind the scenes, I enjoyed dancing with both Kim Karpanty and the Company in Straight Foward & Slightly Off Kilter and Drift In, Drop Out. The concert closed with a reprise of Rustbelt, one of Jenita's homages to the place we all call home.

More posts to come on Prospect & Refuge. The Company will be sharing premiere excerpts at Cleveland Public Theatre April 15-18, 2010.

Joan

Photo of Sherri Mills and Amy Compton in Jenita McGowan's Romani by Simone Jowell

Home Front

Antaeus Dance will premiere two new dances by Jenita McGowan and one by Marissa Glorioso in the Company's upcoming concert, Home Front, February 5 -7 at Pilgrim Congregational Church. Two dances from my own repertory will also be performed.

Jenita's new works includes Romani, an elegant yet earthy quartet that combines crisp rhythmic patterns with undulating movement. Set to music by the local, experimental group Trepanning Trio, the dance will be performed by Amy Compton, Marissa Glorioso, Sherri Mills and Shanna Sheline. For Heart's Terrain, Jenita worked with movement generated by soloist Sherri to create a visually stunning dance that joins internal and external landscapes in a beautiful meditation. Amy, Marissa and Shanna will reprise Jenita's Rustbelt, one of a growing collection of Jenita's dances inspired by the unique region in which we live. (Photo of Jenita's Borne Away on Crooked River by Brad Petot.)

To see video of these works in rehearsal, please visit Jenita's blog, Lust 4 My Rustbelt.

Marissa will perform her solo Apologia, exploring holding on and holding back. At once graceful and forceful, the work delves into a woman's journey from self conscious self-restraint to quiet determination to move forward.

I will join Marissa, Amy and Shanna for Drift In, Drop Out. This modern dance pairs an evocative sound score by Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg with a gracefully idiosyncratic dance for four women. Equally at home on the floor and in the air, the dancers create a shifting landscape of flowing movement and intense, interconnected gestures. Kim Karpanty (Travesty Dance Group/Cleveland) and I will also perform our duet, Straight Forward & Slightly Off Kilter, a quirky romp through a field of contrasting dynamics. A friendly competition ensues between two curious opponents who alternately assist and attempt to outdo one another. (Photo of Straight Forward & Slightly Off Kilter by William Hebert.)

Please join us for this concert of diverse works by the Artistic Staff. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 students and seniors. For reservations please call (216) 486-2874 or e-mail me at joan@antaeusdance.com.

I hope to see you there!
Joan

Home Front Rescheduled for February 2010

Antaeus Dance's upcoming performance of Home Front have been postponed until February of 2010. New works by Jenita McGowan and Marissa Glorioso can be seen then at Pilgrim Congregational Church. I will post more information in the new year.

Joan

Prospect & Refuge

Sherri & Doug. Enough said. JM

Prospect

Here is one of the rooms in which I would like to dance/film for Prospect & Refuge. You will see collaborating choreographer/director Doug Lodge at the end of the clip.



I was a bit rabid when talking about it with the dancers at our last rehearsal. I do think they were more excited than frightened, even though I told them I wanted them to jump through a hole in the floor to the level below (roughly a two-story drop). Many ideas, only some will be doable, even fewer of those will work. We shall see what develops!

Joan

Locations

Doug and I scouted a couple locations for Prospect & Refuge while I was in Meadville these past two weeks. I am grateful to Mr. Jones and Mr. Tucker for allowing us to explore the old farm house and factory respectively.

The farm house is falling down, dangerous only if one is not aware of the surroundings, and otherwise totally seductive. The owner told us a few stories about the place and expressed difficulty in having the place torn down...

not because of logistics, but because it is a piece of history and it is difficult being the one responsible for eradicating it. At one time it was a lovely home. It currently sits in a pasture, providing storage for hay and a temptation to passers by. With Mr. Jones' permission, Doug and I gave in to temptation and explored.

I do not think it advisable to actually dance in the house. The structure itself could make for some great footage generally speaking, and the dancers could safely be placed within the structure. I continue to dream.

The factory was absolutely wonderful! There are many spaces that could easily be used for performance (with some rehab). One building in particular struck Doug and we explored it at length. A heart felt Thanks! to Mr. Tucker for giving us a tour, talking to us about the rehabilitation of old factory/warehouse facilities, and allowing us to explore further on our own.

I definitely want to go back to the factory with the dancers. Doug and I are hoping to do so in October when the Company is there to perform MOLT at Allegheny College.

What I found particularly enticing about both spaces is the manner in which nature is reclaiming the sites. In both cases plant life was in relative abundance (all it takes is a little moisture) and animal life had clearly taken up residence (just like the wood chuck in my garage and the skunk under my porch).

Ideas abound in such places and I am indebted to Doug for doing all of the leg work and making arrangements for us to see the spaces. Others were not accessible to us and the hunt continues in PA while, in OH, Antaeus Dance prepares for upcoming appearances in the Playhouse Square Dance Showcase, Tremont Arts & Culture Festival, and CPT's Pandemonium.

Joan

Photos by Joan Meggitt

Dance Intensive Wrap Up

The Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive finished up on Friday. Shanna, Sherri and I had a total of 31 students, up from the usual 16-18. I am so glad that we did not limit attendance to a smaller number. I met a lot of new people, worked again with returning students, and even taught a young man whom I first met when he was 11 (he originated a role in a dance that Holly Labbe Cole and I choreographed in 2001).

One of the wonderful things about Allegheny College is that, from the first (way back in 1988), I became part of a community, versus a class. I hope the incoming/returning students have a similar experience. I appreciate being able to meet the place and the people (what and who they are now) with who I am now. There is certainly a lot of nostalgia connected to the College for me - I began dancing there, I met my husband there, I learned from so many wonderful people who changed my life - but that relationship continues to evolve...so while I continue to dance there, meet my husband there (usually for an Antaeus Dance concert), and learn from great people, it is never the same road twice. For that I am grateful.

Joan

Photo of 2009 Allegheny Summer Dance Participants by Scott Choffel

Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive

The annual Summer Dance Intensive at Allegheny College is moving into its second week. Shanna, Sherri and I have been teaching classes in modern dance technique, improvisation and composition, yoga, and massage. In addition, I am working with nine participants who are learning a piece from my repertory. The dance will be performed at Allegheny College later this year.

There are 28 participants, all of of them energetic and willing to try just about anything we throw at them. When not teaching, I have enjoyed taking classes from Shanna and Sherri.

We are staying with a friend, fellow Alleghenian Scott Choffel, who has kindly opened up his home to us. We are having a delightful time on that front. We are 45 minutes away from the college by bike and have ridden our bikes to and from the studio every other day.

While I'm here I have also been in conversation with Doug Lodge about our new work, Prospect & Refuge. I've opened a huge can of worms...can't wait to dig in! Tomorrow we visit an abandoned farmhouse, a possible location for filming. Later in the week we visit an old factory. Look for photos from those excursions in future posts.

Joan

Antaeus Dance & MorrisonDance in Lincoln Park This Weekend

It's all done but the doing of it. Antaeus Dance had its final company rehearsal last night in preparation for this weekend's concert with MorrisonDance. I must admit to dragging a bit this morning, but I am enjoying moving with Shanna, Marissa and Heather nonetheless.

While we gear up for this concert, Shanna and I have also been preparing for the annual Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive. The enrollment is maxed out and we are looking forward to meeting new students and excited to see some familiar faces as well. I have been leading the intensive since 1999, so I have had the opportunity and the pleasure of seeing many students from the start to the finish of their time at Allegheny.

I have a few applications for venues and grants in the hopper, as well as course materials for my classes at Kent State University. It has been a lovely summer and I am looking forward to a year rich in dance. You will find AD's season to the right, as well as KSU concerts that include my work.

See you in the park!
Joan

Photo of Hidden Dialogue by Scott Radke

Final Week of Classes

This is the final week of Antaeus Dance classes. We had anticipated teaching through next week, but preparations for our upcoming performance require us to keep the last week to ourselves.

It has been a great pleasure to both teach and take classes with the company and the community this summer. I have met some lovely movers from Cleveland and beyond, and hope that we can continue to see one another throughout the year.

If you want to be on our mailing list for class information, company announcements, and other goings on, please contact me: joan@antaeusdance.com.

Please see the post below for reflections on our performance in Lincoln Park next weekend!

Photo of Shadowing the Ground by John Seyfried